The Final Agony: Blood and Change
by CaliaDragon
Summary: Sometimes vengeance brings on bloody mayhem and sometimes it brings on change.


Title: The Final Agony: Blood and Change

Author: CaliaDragon

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Surprise

Part: 1/1

Category: AU, Future Fic

Warnings: Angst, Death, unbeta'd

Feedback: or on list.

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine.

Summary: Sometimes revenge is bloody and sometimes it forces change.

AN: What I planned with this fic changed on me during its writing. I guess I just see Xander a certain way.

Blood and gore covered the panting man; mad laughter flickered through the air interspersed with a heart wrenching keening that haunted those just outside the door. The women looked at one another in fear; they did not want to enter the room of the Oracles. They knew that once they entered it would be a do or die situation.

Grief and loss had turned their greatest champion into their enemy. Andrew, their seer, had a vision that Xander Harris, the Mad Knight, had attacked the Oracles injuring them until they would not come back. Andrew had sent them in the hopes that they would stop the death of the Oracles and the continued fall of their champion.

Unfortunately, Xander knew all to well how the Oracles and the Powers worked. He barred their entry into the chamber. Xander attacked the Oracles, hacking away at them until not even immortal healing could bring them back from the dead. Chunks of flesh and bone lay around Xander, marking his descent into madness and darkness.

It was not just the Light that was suffering, Darkness was a Power as well and Xander had made sure that some of the top demons in the world suffered for his pain and loss. He killed demon lords and dark 

demi-gods. Too many had deemed him to be no threat even after he had declared himself an enemy of the Powers, but they all forgot one fundamental thing. Xander Harris was a fighter who had been battling since he was fourteen; hundreds of years had passed since that time.

Years that brought with it teachers, knowledge of the arcane and the combine knowledge of some of the greatest demon fighters in the world. He knew more about killing demons than most people living. He had fought by the side of slayers, champions, repentant evils, and absorbed magicks beyond most people's imaginations. When he was sixty-two he fought and killed two dark fey on his own, he slayed Rivosa, the Demon Goddess of Mania when he was 132, by himself.

No one alive had as many demonic kills as he did; no one on the side of the light had lived as long as he had. Now, by killing Cordy Jenkins, Xander's daughter, they had taken him from the light and the dark, he was an ally of none and an enemy of all. Yet he was still beloved by those who knew him and fought with him.

Andrew, their Seer, was not alive in the normal sense, he was a prisoner of the Powers forever condemned to live in a void with only his voice to guide the slayers and at one time Xander. Andrew had cried when he was told what happened to Cordy, if the Powers had allowed him the vision he could have saved her. Instead, he was left to mourn for her and for Xander. He would never be free and had no true free will left. A part of him, the part that the Powers could not control, prayed that Xander would find a way to destroy him when he destroyed the others.

Xander looked at the dead around him and laughed again, he sat crouched with the sword of Arthur in his hands, he knew that more of the powers would come and one by one they would die at his blade. Xander had found Excalibur when he was 234, he had traveled through Europe and found the sword in the stone, a sword he had thought to be a myth. When he pulled it out he was stunned by the fact of what the sword was. Xander used it to kill demons; despite the legend the sword was dependent on the will of the holder. If the wielder of the sword went dark so did the sword. Now Xander was using it to slay demons and gods alike.

He stood when the next person came to him and sneered at the sight of the warriors in front of him. They would not stop his revenge. "Either join me or leave, but you won't stop me." Xander told them coldly.

Faith and Dean shared a look, when they were told by the powers that they were needed to stop a new enemy they had not expected it to be a blood covered Xander. "Why you doing this boytoy?" Faith asked gently, seeing in her friend the madness that once ruled her.

"They killed everyone and took all I had left away from me and now I'm going to kill them all. I've lived to long and if they won't let me die then their going to die instead. Demon or God it doesn't matter I'll kill them all for taking my baby away from me!" Xander swiped through the blood and laughed madly.

Tara who had come with them shuddered this was not the man she remembered. This was someone lost and gone from sanity. "Xander," she called gently.

"I'm sorry Tara, but if I have to kill you all again I will. I watched you die once and I can do it again, I have nothing to loose." Xander giggled as he spoke though his words were solemn, he was not. In fact Xander was fairly certain that the trio were hallucinations trying to remind him of who he once was.

Outside the room in the field of the oracles a witch was casting a spell, trying to save all of them and Xander as well. Xander snarled as he felt the spell taking place and lunged out the door. Slayers scrambled as Xander rushed out blood smeared and made with rage. He would kill the power trying to stop his revenge.

The goddess fueling the spell turned in shock as the immortal went at her with his sword, she cried out in pain as he cut her arm. The slayers and the other warrior ran forward trying to stop Xander from killing the goddess and the young witch. They were sadly out classed; Xander was their teacher and knew more about fighting than all of them. Tara rushed forward to protect the witch while Faith and Dean joined the fight to stop Xander.

While they were the strongest fighters of their time Xander still had more time as a fighter than they did and they were hard pressed to keep up with him and uninjured. As they battled him more fighters arrived, this time it was demons. All of whom were trying to help the slayers and warriors stop Xander. D'Hoffryn arrived and helped power the spell that would stop Xander from killing them all. Yet even wounded Xander continued to fight his way to the group working the spell.

Then the spell was done and Xander stood still watching as time and reality warped around him. The world changed, twisted, and reformed, the demons and the slayers disappeared leaving him standing alone in a field of wild flowers. The death and destruction that he had been a part of just scant seconds earlier was no where in sight. He turned and faced the man standing behind him. Xander felt no fear, just a vague sense of confusion, his madness twisting at the back of his mind.

"Hello Xander," the man called gently. Xander cocked his head to the side and nodded, taking in the man before him. Xander thought he was very handsome. The man was tall, and possessed dark good looks. He had black hair, caramel colored skin and black eyes. He was tall and thin, but well built. There was something about him that made Xander want to trust him.

"What happened? Who are you?" Xander asked calmly, he had yet to take in the fact that he was younger and had both eyes. He was still dressed in the clothes that he had worn to the battle and his hair was still long and braided yet for the first time in three months the madness within him was quelled.

"My name is Eric Delko, I'm a realm guardian, and what happened is that the magick user succeeded in doing what s_he_ was working to do which was the opposite of what the demons and the goddess wanted. By doing so she changed time and reality. You are one of only seven people who will remember the other timeline, like you they will be changed. Hundreds years have been whipped away." Eric told him gently going to stand at Xander's side.

"What's the catch?" Xander asked still abnormally calm.

"You cannot go back to Sunnydale; Xander Harris no longer exists to Willow, Jesse, Buffy, Cordy, or any of the others. Buffy was saved from the Master and killed him before he could kill her. Angel and Buffy will never get together because she is already dating Jesse. They will go on and they will fight with Angel at their side. The First Evil will not be released upon this realm. The Powers have made things so that you are safe, at this time other Realm Guardians are telling the others that remember the same thing I am telling you. Faith, Dawn, Connor, Tara, Doyle, Dean, and Sam are the only ones to remember the other timeline. They will soon be together and will be looking for you." Eric told him, watching as the young man took in the changes.

"Why do they remember?" Xander asked curious, his head tilted to the side in question.

"They remember because they were brought back by the Powers to try to stop you and because all of them were betrayed by the Powers and their reward taken from them, just like it was taken from you." Eric paused to consider his next words. "You remember because of who and what you are, as only the sixth person without power or knowledge to stand up for the slayers you changed the world. Through all of your possessions, pains, and betrayals you stood at the side of the warriors of the light. Even when you were used as a sacrifice for power by the slayers you went back to them and fought at their side. It was only at the death of your child that you turned from their side and even with that turning you only incapacitated the Slayers who came after you, you never killed them. This combined with all of the magick and the tainting by the hellmouth made you unique and we could not take your memories even if we wanted to."

"So what do I do now?" Xander asked calmly, his whole world was changed, but Xander could not help but feel it was for the better. Time and tragedy had changed Xander Harris. Xander was no longer the brash and bitter young man that survived Sunnydale. Nor was he the compassionate, gentle man who drew people to him and who was accepting of everyone until they proved they could not be accepted. Instead he was a broken, mad boy left with nothing but nightmares and ashes of his former life. It would take a great deal to ease Xander back into the real life and to the changed reality that he and the other Guardians had created for Xander and the other six.

The magnetism that had plagued him on the hellmouth would follow him into the real world and into the human population. Xander would draw a wide variety of people to him, he would draw everyone from the deranged to the holy and each of them would be treated kindly until they proved that they were a threat. However, Xander would kill any Power that came after him and the Guardians of the Realm knew it.

"You live your life and become who you want to be. You are young, sane, and healthy once again. The Powers that are left have provided for you and the others. I personally would like to see you in Miami with me, but I understand if you would rather go somewhere else. If you come with me, I promise to protect you and be there for you. You saved our world many times, both at the slayers side and alone. In this life I am a cop of sorts, you could work with me if you chose to or you could live out your hearts desire." Eric reached out running a hand down Xander's cheek. All of the Guardians had waited for the day that Xander would pass on so that they could welcome him home.

The Powers, the true Powers not the Oracles or those they followed, had waited a long time to be able to step in and fix the mistakes of the young meddlers in their realm. When they learned that the 

demons wanted to change time so that the Slayer Cordelia would win, they made sure that the witch taken would know the spell to warp time and to save their reality. They knew there would be changes and that they would have to keep Xander and the other six away from Sunnydale. Now Eric just had to work through Xander's shock and hope that he took him up on his offer and did not attack for who Eric would represent to Xander.

Xander stepped closer to the Guardian, why haven't you helped before?" he asked calmly.

"As long as the Oracles lived we could do nothing to stop them. With their death we were freed from the treaty made eons ago. Even with the reversal of time the Oracles and their masters can not control this realm any longer. We want to protect you and give you a life without madness and loss. Please Xander let me help you." Eric, whose real name was no longer remembered, said as he pulled the boy into his arms.

The comfort offered in his arms caused Xander to sob and finally given into the pain of a life lived to long. As he held him Eric shifted them away, landing in a small house where a group of people sat he sank into the soft chair and held the grieving child and hoped that he would be able to offer the broken boy what he needed to heal.

The End for Now


End file.
